Last Saturday at the Global Field in Berlin, surrounded by the luscious plants of the greenhouse, Cecilia Antoni (@bean.beat) of the Global Bean team held a speech about the advantages of pulses in our diet during the evening event, “Iss mir Bohne!”. This event, whose title is a world play on “Eat more beans” and a German saying, took place after an eventful day full of discussions and field tours on occasion of the “Harvest Festival”.
And so, visitors were invited to sit and rest, as Cecilia shared her expert tips and tricks and talked about the numerous, sometimes unexpected, benefits of pulses such as the “Second Meal effect” in which pulses combined with carbohydrates help lowering the blood sugar spike. Together with Chef Omar Saad (@hommous_khobez) – who has a lebanese restaurant in Berlin called CÈDRE BLANC- she prepared a tasteful and colourful bean-based buffet with more than 5 dishes including 12 different legumes.
Visitors could taste the immense diversity of the Fabaceae family and further share tips and knowledge: Lupin for starters, Omar’s secret hummus recipe, a refreshing giant bean salad, faba bean falafels, a tasty lebanese soup and an exquisite dessert mixing various beans, along with Cecilia’s famous bean brownie.
Lisa and Anne from the Global Bean team were also present to tell the visitors a bit more about the diversity and benefits of pulses at an infotable, around convivial conversations with each a plate of sustainable food.
A big thank you to Cecilia and Omar for giving us such inspiration, and…
… delicious recipes pulses, snacks, appetizers, salads, main meals, and even deserts, so nicely shared with us. One of Omar Saad’s delicious recipes below:
Fasouliya salad: White giant bean salad
The beans
- Soak approx. 300-400g of White broad beans overnight and bring them to a boil in the morning, then reduce to a low simmer and simmer under supervision for approx. 10-15 minutes.
- When cooked, rinse under cold water.
- Attention: Do not exceed the cooking time, as it is quite short, and if overcooked, the beans soak up water and become mealy and disintegrate with the lightest touch!
- This will yield about 600-800g of cooked beans.
Preparation: To the beans, add
- 1 tsp salt,
- 1 tsp hummus spices (cumin, caraway and pepper mixed in equal amounts).
- 1 crushed clove of garlic or 2 if you like it.
- 4-5 tbsp virgin olive oil,
- 3-4 tsp lemon juice or balsamic, or both if you like the mixture a little more tart.
- Optionally add chopped coriander and or parsley, and or spring onions to give green colour and flavour.
By the way: you can do this with almost all kinds of legumes!
Recipe by Omar Saad
- CÈDRE BLANC, Catering – Kochevents – Live Cooking – Feinkost
Nehringstr.34 14059 Berlin - 01607057390
